If pictures are worth 1,000 words, how much are videos, or moving pictures, worth? The answer, at least for many retailers this coming holiday season, is green. Lots of green.
Videos are one way companies are trying to get existing and potential customers to interact with their brand. Most will still create their traditional high-quality commercials suitable for TV networks and cable stations. But they’re also creating videos of varying quality that customers can watch in email, check out on social networks or browse online.
What’s the appeal of videos versus other outreach messages?
- Everything’s right there. Macy’s, for instance, has clustered all its current holiday commercials together on its official YouTube channel. Here you can check out a variety of videos and commercials from its current campaign, which is handy if you don’t watch much television and haven’t seen them all, or if you have a favorite commercial spot you want to view again. The boardroom theme, for instance, has many variations, including some celebrity cameos with stars like Jessica Simpson or a talking gingerbread man. Each video is short, 30 seconds a piece, so it’s easy to watch them all at once, throughout the season or between tasks on your to-do list. It’s also easy to jump from the video page to explore the rest of the Macy’s site and other deals.
- Convey a theme. Target includes videos in its cross-platform social media as part of its holiday efforts this year. It is encouraging customers to use the #mykindofholiday hashtag to share memories, and also has set up a YouTube
channel
with other
Everything I’d my to I If most the geneticfairness white age polish made, you tried.holiday planning information. In addition, it has partnered with party planner David Stark to offer a series of short videos with ideas for recipes, music, food and general entertaining. The videos, which usually aren’t longer than 1:30, also can be seen on the official Target Pinterest page, which has been featured on Target commercials, making it easy for customers to find them.
- Get people talking. Lots of retailers have placed “make a viral video” on their holiday wish lists this year. And it looks like Santa made an early visit to Kmart, which has been getting a lot of buzz for a creative promo for the Joe Boxer brand of underwear. For those who haven’t seen the “Show Your Joe” commercial, it portrays six gentlemen wearing tuxedo shirts and different colored boxers. When they shake their hips, each one plays a different bell-like tone, and together they play “Jingle Bells.” Clever or crude depends on your point of view, as seen by the range of comments on Kmart’s Facebook page. Some supported it or shared it, others called it disgusting and tasteless. Still others say it isn’t as bad as Kmart’s decision to open on Thanksgiving or air its Christmas layaway ads as early as September, two other recent sources of controversy for the retailer. The Huffington Post even discussed the “Show Your Joe” video in mid-November and included warnings from the Parents Television Council about the risk to a brand that deliberately offends some audience members while amusing others.